And back to Windsor

As per my previous post, we had decided to go back to Windsor rather than on to London or Brantford. So yesterday, we biked to Belle River. This involved going a bit back towards Kingsville, then heading more or less North. We went through some interesting little towns. One, the town of Olinda, where we stopped to read the bronze plaque, talking about the Unitarian Universalist Church. I was so fascinated I took a picture of it, and will include it when I am able.

This land is flat. It helps to remind us of why we don't want to ride across the prairies. And the wind...well, that's even more of a concern. Yesterday was a pleasant enough day as far as temperature went, but we were going upwind most of the day. So the forty-odd kilometres between Leamington and Belle River seemed a lot longer.



Belle River is right on Lake St Clair, not really one of the Great Lakes, but connected nonetheless. I had been through this lake when I worked on a Great Lakes research vessel forty years ago. At that time, I remember Lake St. clear as a dead lake, an example of the worst that we as polluters have done to out waterways. So I was relieved and pleased to see that the lake was pretty clean, turbid, but not dead. People were fishing in it, although it was clearly too cold to swim in it. When Barry and I walked down to the Marina and looked around, the day was bright and clear, and everything looked good. The town was fine, we had a nice supper, and stayed in a B&B that was in an old home and pretty comfortable. So a good day overall.



Today, we had a relatively easy ride, just thirty km. to Windsor itself. Most of this was along the lakefront and riverfront. Big homes, lots of money evident, and a fair bit of traffic. But we got to town, found the VIA Station, and dropped out bikes (they will be put on the train at 5:30 tomorrow morning, and we will follow them at 9:00).

I have a much better impression about Windsor than I was prepared to have. The waterfront area has been made into a park, and is beautiful. The bike trails are pretty good and pretty complete. It is really nice...except for the downtown. After we checked into the hotel, we walked around the downtown area. It looks like hat you would see in Detroit, rather than on this side of the border. Empty storefronts, lots of marginal-looking people, scary locations. We went for an early supper, in part so we could walk back to the hotel in daylight.